Attitudes towards visual correction in sport: What coaches, physical education teachers and sports physicians think

Purpose: To evaluate sport professionals' attitudes towards visual correction in sport. Method: A questionnaire was handed out in schools, gyms, sports centres and universities, to coaches, physical education teachers and final year students of motor science. The questionnaire was given to one group of sport physicians prior to a 1-day scientific update course on the benefits of contact lenses (CLs) in sport. At the end of the course, certain questions from the questionnaire were given out again in order to evaluate the effect of the update on their opinions. Results: A total of 245 questionnaires were collected. The interviewees stated that correcting a vision defect during sports practice was important, but their propensity to suggest CLs for sport, though still rather high in value, showed a statistically significant drop. This drop did not occur if the CLs were recommended for competitive sports. This trend remained unchanged if a specific judgement was requested for the adolescent category. The tendency to suggest CLs was higher in CL wearers as compared to non-wearers. The sport with the lowest recommendation of CLs was swimming. In the sample of sports physicians, a specific education on the subject of CLs increased the propensity to adopt CLs in sports. Conclusions: The main "actors" in the sports sector regard correcting a vision defect during sport to be important. Nevertheless, their tendency to suggest CLs is significantly lower. Works that make these categories aware of the benefits of CLs in sport can certainly help to fill this gap. (C) 2010 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.